Revenge of the gun haters
Dr. Michael S. Brown
web posted February 25, 2002
Politics and public opinion may have turned against the anti-gun
lobby, but their burning hatred for guns and gun owners hasn't
cooled. Laws passed during the anti-gun witch hunts of the
1990's provide them with a satisfying way to take punitive action
against harmless gun owners.
Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, which
may be one reason it had more murders than any other American
city in 2001 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?
pagename=article&node=&contentId=A42860-2001Dec30).
Mayor Richard Daley often unleashes verbal attacks on the gun
industry to distract attention from his failure to address the real
causes of crime.
The Chicago Anti-Gun Enforcement (CAGE) Task Force was
formed under the pretense of interdicting illegal gun running to
Chicago gangs. The task force has obtained unprecedented
access to federal gun purchase records and is compiling a list of
gun owners in the region who may be in violation of complicated
state gun laws. CAGE officers have already begun to appear at
the homes of honest gun owners, whose papers are not in order,
to confiscate their firearms.
Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan has staged questionable sting
operations in which ordinary citizens are given false information
about gun laws, then enticed into selling guns to undercover
agents without completing the proper paperwork. It is no
coincidence that Ryan is running for governor.
In Maryland, the state's rabidly anti-gun attorney general issued a
creative new interpretation of a 1996 court decision regarding
which persons are disqualified from gun ownership. State police
are denying permits and confiscating firearms from people with
minor convictions that are decades old.
A popular neighborhood activist who received a "Citizen of the
Year" award in 2000 was recently denied the gun permit he
needed for his job as a private detective and security guard (http:
//www.washtimes.com/metro/20020129-865799.htm). His only
offense was a scuffle with an anti-war fanatic in 1969. Maryland
state policemen appeared at the home of another good citizen to
confiscate his guns when it was discovered that he had a minor
1983 conviction for a shoving match over a disputed property
line.
In California, gun owners are bewildered by new laws that make
certain firearms illegal to own. Unfortunately, officials do not
agree on which guns are banned, leaving gun owners fearing
arrest under laws that can be selectively enforced.
In each of these cases, it is painfully obvious that real criminals
are not affected. Self-serving government officials are targeting
ordinary citizens, because they are easy targets for action that
appeals to the big-city media. It is much more difficult to
prosecute real criminals and the inner-city nature of most crime
makes for politically incorrect arrests. We can also speculate that
these efforts are intended to extract a measure of revenge for the
rout of the anti-gun lobby.
At the national level the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms, known as ATF, controls every one of the nation's
licensed firearms dealers and has long been criticized for
overzealous enforcement by gun rights activists. In order to
comply with changes in federal gun laws, ATF quietly decided to
change the standard gun registration form that has been used for
years. Beginning on February 19, 2002, no sales would be
approved unless they were recorded on the new forms.
Not only were many dealers unaware of the change, someone
"forgot" to send out the forms (http:
//www.cnn.com/2002/US/02/20/gun.sale.glitch.ap/). Retail gun
sales came to a screeching halt across the country. The new
forms were eventually provided, but there was no way to replace
the retailers' lost revenue or the time lost by thousands of lawful
buyers. Folks at the Brady Campaign probably had a good
laugh.
None of these situations would have occurred without the laws
passed in the emotional anti-gun frenzy of the last decade. These
laws now provide mean-spirited, anti-gun politicians and
bureaucrats with many ways to seek revenge against the gun
owners who dared to fight for their rights in recent elections and
public opinion battles.
In the long run, these moves will backfire as more people realize
how far the absurd reality of gun law enforcement varies from the
utopian intent.
Dr. Michael S. Brown is an optometrist and member of Doctors
for Sensible Gun Laws, (www.dsgl.org). E-mail the author at
rkba2000@yahoo.com
Enter Stage Right - http://www.enterstageright.com